Who will teach schools about food allergies?

Carolyn Kenny of Peoria will never forget the day five years ago when she first gave her son, Hugh, a peanut butter and jelly sandwich.

As he began eating, hives almost immediately began to form around his mouth. He rubbed his eyes and they, too, became inflamed - "puffy," she said.

When Hugh got to be of school age, "it was scary," Kenny said.

DAVE HANEY

PEORIA - Carolyn Kenny of Peoria will never forget the day five years ago when she first gave her son, Hugh, a peanut butter and jelly sandwich.

As he began eating, hives almost immediately began to form around his mouth. He rubbed his eyes and they, too, became inflamed - "puffy," she said.

"You could tell something wasn't right. His breathing became labored," Kenny recalled. "I just called the pediatrician."

She administered some Benadryl as directed by a nurse and Hugh, just 2 1/2 at the time, was OK. Tests later confirmed his allergy to peanuts was "off the chart."

When Hugh got to be of school age, "it was scary," Kenny said.

Those at Jamieson School, which Hugh attends, had never encountered such a food allergy, so Kenny made it her job to educate not only Hugh's teachers but also the school and other parents.

She brought in an educational video about peanut allergies, created an "action plan" that states parental responsibilities and staff responsibilities as well as providing a list of acceptable foods and snacks and what to avoid.

If Gov. Rod Blagojevich gets his way, the job of informing schools and training staff members on how to deal with and prevent exposure to food allergens wouldn't be up to parents like Kenny; it would be in the hands of the State Board of Education and individual school districts to implement.

And while Illinois lawmakers last week rejected a host of Blagojevich's ideas, including the food allergy guidelines, that doesn't mean the initiative has gone away, as some legislative support still exists.

Kris Heinz of East Peoria ran into a situation similar to Kenny's a couple of years ago when her son, Connor, started school at Armstrong Elementary.

Connor, now 8, has an allergy to all tree nuts - not peanuts, but "pretty much every other kind of nut," Heinz said.

"I don't think she really understood the severity of the situation," said Heinz of the principal at the time. "At first, they were not willing to make accommodations."

It took some convincing, which she believes would have been more difficult had she not been a former teacher in the district, but the school ultimately became "tree nut free."

Like Kenny, Heinz said she took charge of educating teachers and staff members, writing letters that went home to parents. "It's just not an ingestion issue," she explained. "Just by touch, if one child eats a cashew, plays basketball and then Connor touches that same basketball, (it) can cause a reaction. . . . It's a life-threatening issue."

Both Kenny and Heinz support Blagojevich's plan that in their mind would make schools more informed about food allergies.

At Jamieson School, Principal Karen Orendorff said they have "an individual plan" for Hugh.

The list is numerous: "cold" lunches from home are checked in at the office, signs are placed on some doors that prohibit peanuts and food from the district that contains peanut or peanut oil does not even come to the school. Some teachers and aides were trained about the allergy as well as use of an epinephrine "pen," used to counteract an allergic reaction.

Matt Vanover, a spokesman for the Illinois State Board of Education, said current law mandates schools that receive federal subsidies for school lunches, about 95 percent of the state's schools, must offer non-allergen food to those students who have an allergen documented by a doctor.

"This goes beyond what is in place now," Vanover said of the governor's proposal that initially called for guidelines to be in place by the start of 2010 and addressed training and putting in place policies to dictate how to respond to allergic reactions.

Mark Doan, superintendent of Farmington Central School District 265, said school districts are facing more and more students with food allergies.

"There has to be a partnership with parents and caregivers when dealing with this situation," he said. "Communication is the key: What are the exact allergies? What foods can or cannot be eaten? Can the student monitor him- or herself?"

The only problem if a proposal becomes law that Doan sees is that it would be another unfunded mandate from the state.

"In our district, we have had to make specific meal plans for students with a wide range of medical issues such as food allergies, diabetes, cystic fibrosis, etc.," he said. "Again, this would be an unfunded mandate on schools across the state of Illinois because many times more staff is needed to work with this specific need and/or concern."